RIVERSIDE (CNS) - A child among a group of nearly 200 people under quarantine at March Air Reserve Base for possible exposure to the novel coronavirus in China was undergoing treatment today at Riverside University Medical Center after developing a fever.
According to the Riverside County Department of Public Health, the unidentified minor was taken with one parent to the Moreno Valley hospital via ambulance on Monday night. The two were among 195 people, most of them U.S. State Department employees and their loved ones, placed under quarantine at March last week after being evacuated from Wuhan, China.
According to a health department statement, the transfer to the hospital was “out of an abundance of caution” and not because there was any positive indication of coronavirus, which has to be verified through serology tests.
“Testing samples will be submitted to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, and results expected later this week,” according to the agency. “No confirmed cases have been reported in Riverside County.”
Officials noted that an individual who recently traveled to China and arrived Monday at Los Angeles International Airport was also placed under isolation at March, but away from the 195 others already there.
“The individual has no symptoms of novel coronavirus, but was moved to March out of an abundance of caution and because of their travel history,” according to the health department. “The federal quarantine order for this person expires Feb. 6.”
The 14-day quarantine order for the others expires Feb. 11.
In addition to March, federal officials have designated four other bases around the country as quarantine sites, according to Rep. Mark Takano, D- Riverside.
The novel coronavirus epidemic has claimed over 400 lives in China, exceeding the death toll of the severe acute respiratory syndrome -- SARS -- outbreak of 2003. More than 20,000 infections have been documented in China. The respiratory illness is treatable, and many patients are recovering, according to reports.
Federal officials said there have been 11 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States, with six of those in California, including one case each in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Temporary quarantine and processing sites have been established at major airports, including LAX.
The virus was first identified by the Chinese government on Dec. 31, when authorities indicated an unknown pneumonia variant was impacting residents of Hubei Province.
Since then, the 2019-nCoV has been confirmed in several dozen countries, according to the World Health Organization.
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